Elevator-door lock.



D. IHLDER.

ELEVATOR DOOR LOCK.

APPLICATION F|LED APR. 10. |912.

Patented Nov. U, 1915.

2 SHEETS YSHEET llllucllfo:

1. D. IHLDER.

ELEVATOR DOOR LOCK.

APPLxcATloN FILED APR. lo. |912.

utenhfd Nov. (J, 1915.

2 S EETS-ShkLT 2 www@ UNITESTATES AENT @FFMJEO JOHN D. IHLDER, 0F NEW YORK, Y., ASSIG'NOR TO OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY, 0F

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ELEVATOR-DOOR LOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 11935..

Application led April 10, 1912. Serial No. 689,754.

To all whom t may concern.' Y

vBre it known that I, JOHN D. IHLDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New- York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Elevator-Door Locks, of which the following is a specication.

My invention relates to door locks, and although it may have a general application, it is adapted to elevator doors, and more particularly to the doorsl of an automatic elecv tric elevator.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide an improved, eflicient and absolutely safe door lock in which it is impossible for one to receive an electric shock.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a lock which is positive in its action, both as to locking the door and the operation of circuit-closing Imechanism coacting with the locking and latching mechanism of the lock.

sfurther object of the invention is theprovision of an improved lock for elevator doors having circuit closing devices whose function is elfectually to prevent an elevator door from being unlocked or opened unless and until the elevator car has come to rest 'adjacent the. corresponding floor landing,

said lock also preventing an elevator car from being moved away from a floor landing while any one of the several landing doors is either unlocked, unlatched or in open position.

Other objects of my invention will appear hereinafter, the novel combinations of ele' my invention to an elevator-door; Fig. 5 is a plan view of the contact device on top of the door; Fig. 6 is a fragmentary elevation view of the top of the door and adjacent casing showing the co-acting door contacts.

Like reference characters denote similar parts throughout the Various gures.

My improved lock contains one feature which is common to nearly all elevator door locks, and this feature is in having a contro1- ling circuit of the elevator carried through the electrical contacts of the lock, so that unless all of the parts of the lock are in proper position the elevator carcannot be operated, las its controlling circuit will be interrupted.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates a lock casing which contains a sliding latch member 2 having upon its right hand end a rows a-a; F l shows the application of latch tongue 3 adapted to co-vact with a rectangular slot 34: in thecasing '35. The casing l is carried upon a swinging elevator door while the casing 35 is secured to the door casing adjacent thereto. The latch member 2 is provided with a hand hold 4i, access to which is obtained by means of a hole 5 in the lock casing, whereby a person may insert one or 'more fingers and slide the latch in a left hand direction to unlatch the door, providing the latch is unlocked. Springs such as 7,'7, engage projections 6, 6, upon the latch member and tend to move the latter into latching po-sition, as shown on the drawing, its outward movement being limited by a shoulder 33. A lock member 24 is pivoted to the casing l by a pin 25, and has a locking tongue 26 adapted to engage a notch 27 in the latch, in which position it prevents the latter from being moved to unlocking position. The lock 24 tends to move under the action of gravity out of locking position, and this tendency is supplemented by a small compression spring 29 which bears against the lock and a stop 30 formed in the casing l. The lock is moved to locking position by means of a lever 39 which is pivoted at 40 to an oset support or bracket 41 formed integral with the keeper casing 35. A stout coil spring 42 urges the upper of the locking lever 24.l The push rod 36 is Aadapted to slide freely through bosses formed in lthe casing 35 while a spring 37 surrounds the push rod and bears against a collar 38 aHiXed thereto and tending to move this rod away from the lock member 24. It

will be noted that the coil spring 42 is of sufficient power to overcome the action of the springs 37 and 29, so that, as long as the spring 42 is free to operate the lever 39, the lock member 24 will be moved into a position to lock the latch against any movement, intentional br otherwise.

The latch 3 contains a cutaway portion in which is embedded a conductor 11 of copper or other vsuitable conducting material, the same however being insulated on all sides from the .metal of the latch by means of suitable insulation 12 such as fiber or mica, but 'exposed on its right hand end. A sliding pin 13 passes through'the conductor 11 at right angles thereto, and while the same 1s alwaysin electrical contact therewith, it

is insulated from the latch 3. This pin isv guided in fiber-bushings 14, 14,' which are secured against movement in the latch. A collar 16 is secured to the sliding pin and a spring 15 bears against said collar and the conductor 11. The pin 13 is operated against the action of the spring 15 by the lock lever 24, a piece of insulating material 28 being aiiixed to the locking lever in alinement withlthe said pin, so that the pin can nevercome into electrical contact with the 'in alinement with the latch conductor 11 and is carried by a bracket 47 secured to an insulated base 48 fastened to the casing 35, and is spring pressed in a manner similar to the contact 17.

As before pointed out the locking lever 24 is normally maintained in locking. engagement with fthe latch member by means of the coil spring 42 acting through the lever 39 and push rod 36. When vthe elevator car stops at a landing, a movable cam 49 carried upon the car is projected outwardly so as to engage a roller 43 carried upon a rod 44 secured to the' lever 39 by means of a set screw 45. This cam positively moves the lever into a position shown in broken lines in Fig. 1, thereby permitting the spring 37 to .move the push rod -36 away from the preferably operated by means of a rotary.

electric motor such as shown and described in Patent No. 964,891, to Westlin, granted July 19, 1910.

While the lever 39 may be operated vby a fixed cam carried upon the car, I prefer to use a motor actuated or retracting cam, since the latter is only moved into operating position when the car is stopped at a floor landing thereby preventing the momentary unlocking of a door as the elevator car passes a floor landing. This motor operated cam and the manner in which it coperates with the door locking apparatus is illustrated in Fig. 4 in which an elevator car 69 shown in broken lines is suspended by one or more cables 50 and connected thereby to any suitable hoisting apparatus. A rotary motor 51, mounted preferably on top of the car, is connected by a strap or rod 52 to the cam 49 which is in turn connected to the support 53 by means of the links 54 and 55. When the door 56 is closed, as indicated in Fig. 4, and the car and cam carried thereby stop opposite said door, the motor may be denergized so as to allow the cam 49 to move against the lower end of the lever arm 39, thereby permitting the locking lever to move out of locking position with the latch, as already described.

Each elevator door is provided with a door lock similar to that'shown in the drawings and the electrical contacts of each door lock are connected up in series by the conductors such as 57 and 58 which pass through insulating bushings 22 and 23 respectively inthe lock casing. These conductors form a continuous unbroken circuit when the electrical contacts of all of the door locks are in closed position. This series circuit is a part ofthe controlling circuit of the elevator car, hence it follows that if any one of the electrical contacts of the several door locks `is in open-circuit position,

.the controlling circuit is broken and the car cannot be operated in either direction. `When a door is closed and locked its lock will assume the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1 and the electrical circuit through the lock may be traced` from the conductor 57, through the pin 46, conductor 11, pin 13, contact 1 7, to the outgoing conductor 58.

1t will be observed that in order to complete a circuit through the lock, the latch l 11 must be in its outward position and must also be in electrical engagement with4 the pin 46. 1n order to meet these conditions it is essential that the door be closed and the latch 11 be housed in the rectangular opening 34 (see Fig. 3) of the casing 35. Furthermore, in addition lto the above condi'- tions, itis absolutely necessary to have the Contact pin 13 in electrical engagement with the co-acting contact 17, and in order to fulfil this condition, the latch 3 must not only by the kuse of a tool, since thelocking leverv 24 is not accessible from the Hoor landing, hence cannot be moved except at the proper time and by the proper means such as theY elevator caritself, and any attempt to with draw the latch 3 by means of the hand hold 4 or otherwise, will be of no avail. Furthermore, the contacts 13 and 17 are not closed until after the member 24 has engaged with and securely lockedthe latch 3 in locking position, as shown. Since the operating circuit cannot be completed unless and until the contacts 13 `and 17 are in electrical engagement with each other, it follows that the car 'cannot be started until after the door is closed and latched, and the latch securely locked against movement. Among the advantages resulting from this operation, it may be mentioned that the latch cannot' be withdrawn unless the locking member 24 first be retracted, and this can .only be done when the car is stopped adjacent the corresponding floor landing. Then again, the operator cannot start the car while the door is opened, or while the doorV is unlocked even though the door be in closed position. Hence all possibilities ofaccident to a passenger at a floor landing are absolutely done away with.A Furthermore, the contact or conductor 11 is always dead when the door is opened, since, at such time the locking member 24is moved into dotted line position and -the contact 13 is out of electrical engagement with the live contact 17 Thus it becomes impossible for one to receive an electric shock by coming in contact with the exposed conductor 11 either intentionally or by accident.

When the car is stopped at a floor land- 4 ing, the cam 49 in the car is automatically moved into a position shown in broken lines in Fig. 1, and the door lock at the co'rresponding Hoor is permitted to assume the position shown by broken lines in this figure. As the cam swings the lever 39 out of mechanical contact4 with the push rod 36,

the latter will be moved outwardly by its spring 37 and away from the face 31 of the locking lever 24. The latter is now swung about the pivot 25 by the spring 29, and the pin 13 at once moves away from its co-acting contact 17, thereby interrupting the operat.

ing circuit of the elevator at this contact. The latch, now being unlocked, may be withdrawn by the hand hold 4 from engagement with the coacting slot 34 in the casing 35, and the door may be opened. Upon lwithdrawing the latch, the operating` circuit is further interrupted as the latch conductor 11 moves away from the pin 46, thus introducing an additional safeguard againstmaintaining the operating circuit closed as the door is unlocked and unlatched. It will be observed thaty the conductor 11 is dead or denergized when the door is opened, since the electrical connection is broken at the seen that the conductor or wire 58 is'led through the body of the door to a spring `Dressed contact 59 preferably arranged upon the top of the door out of reach of a person standing at the floor landing or in the car. A co-acting contact 60 is mounted in the upper door casing and slightly countersunk therein and arranged to'register, or make contact with the contact 59, only when the door is in closed position. An arc-shaped guard plate 6l, is secured to the door in such a position that when the door is opened this guard plate moves under the contact 60 and prevents any access thereto either intentional or accidental. When the door is closed, this guard plate is swung out of the way, permitting the contacts 59 and 60 to touch each other.

It will be noted that a lock embodyingV the parts are generous in size and not likely to become impaired 0r broken in service.

While I have illustrated a lock which is arranged particularly for hinged or swinging doors, it is obvious that with slight changes in unimportant details the s ame could readily be modified so as to operate on sliding or other doors, therefore I desire not to be limited to the precise construction and arrangement of parts herein disclosed, since it is obvious that one skilled in the art to which my invention pertains could readily make such changes without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim, and desire to have protected by Letters Patent of the United States l. In an elevator doorlock, the combination of a lock casing, a keeper casing, a spring pressed latch in said lock casing, a

pivoted locking member in said casing, a spring tending to move said locking mem-ber' out of locking engagement with said latch, a circuit closing member controlled by said locking member, and an outside lever adapted to move said locking member into locking position. l

2. In an elevator door lock, the combination of a lock casing, a keepercasing, a spring pressed latch in said lock casing, a pivoted locking member in said casing, a spring tending to move said locking rnember out of locking engagement with said latch, a circuitv closing member controlled by said locking member, land an outside lever adapted positively to move said locking member into locking position. p

3. In an elevator door lock, the combination of a spring pressed sliding latch, a locking member for locking said latch'in locked position, a circuit controlling device operated by said locking member, and means controlled by the passage of an elevator car foreilecting the release of said locking member to permit the said latch to be withdrawn.

4. In an elevator door lock, the combination of a spring pressed sliding latch, a locking member for locking said latchin locked position, a circuit controlling device operated by said locking member, and cam mechanism outside of said lock for eiecting the release of said locking member to permit the -said latch to be withdrawn.

5. In an elevator door lock, the combina-v tion of a sliding latch, a locking member for said latch, electrical contacts controlled by said latch and said locking member, arranged in such manner that an electric circuit may be completed from one contact device to the other only when said latch is locked in latching position. l 6. In an elevator door lock, the combination of a sliding latch, a conductor associated with. said latch, a contact device coacting with said conductor, a locking member for locking said latch in locked position, and a contact device controlled by said locking member movable into circuit closing position only when vsaid locking member is in locked position whereby a circuit may be completed from one contact device to the other contact device only when the said' latch is in' latched and locked position.

7. In an elevator door lock, the combination of a sliding latch, an electric conductor carried by said latch and adapted to engage a contact device when said latch is in latching position, an additional contact device co-acting with said conductor, and a locking member arranged simultaneously to effect an electrical connection between !said conductor and said additional Contact :device, and to lock said latch in latched position. i

8. In an elevator door lock, the combination of a lock casing carried by the doorfP a keeper casing carriedby the door casing, a latch in said lock casing, an electric conductor carried by said latch, a contact `in said keeper casing co-acting with said conductor when the door is in latched position, a locking member for locking said latch latched position, and a contact device coacting with said conductor and controlled by said locking member, whereby a circuit may be closed 4between both of said contact devices only when said latch is ylocked in latching position.

9. In an elevator door lock, the combination of a lock casing, a keeper casing, a vspring pressed latch in said lock casing, a pivoted lockingmember in said lock casing, an electrical contact controlled thereby, a spring tending to move said locking member outl of locking engagement with said latch,

member into locking position.,

10. In an elevator door lock, the combi-I nation of a lock casing, a keeper casing, a spring pressed latch in said lock casing, a pivoted locking member in said lock casing, an electrical Contact controlled thereby, a spring tending tomove said locking member out of locking engagement with said latch, and spring operated means adapted to move said locking member into locking position. 11. In an elevator door lock, the combination of a lock casing, a keeper casing, a spring pressedlatch in said lock casing, a pivoted locking member in said lock casing, an electrical contact controlled thereby, a spring tending to move said locking memlatch, and `means for moving said locking member into lockingpositiongsaidmeans being controlled by an elevatorcai to allow the locking member to be' moved out of locking engagement with said latch.

.12. In an elevator door lock, the combination of a lock casing, a keeper casing, a spring pressed-latch in said loc'k casing, a pivoted locking member in said lock casing, an electrical contact controlled thereby, a spring tendingto move said locking member out of locking engagement with said latch, and spring pressed means for moving said locking member into locking position, said spring pressed means being controlled by anelevator car to allow the locking member to be moved out of locking engagement with the said latch.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN D. IHLDER.

Witnesses:

G. JOHN, VIGGO VON BLOW. 

